What Took You So Long?
by The Urban Spaceman
Summary: "I am the God of Mischief!" Loki spat at his brother. "You could be more," replied Thor. — In which Loki ponders the nature of his complicated existence after being left behind on Sakaar by Thor. Featuring the line that should've been said in Ragnarok but wasn't, and everybody's favourite homage to Jack Kirby. One-shot.


What Took You So Long?

 _"I am the God of Mischief!" Loki spat at his brother._

 _"You could be more," replied Thor._

* * *

The command chair beckoned. His ego bruised as much as his body, Loki sank gingerly into the seat. Luckily, that psychotic idiot, the Grandmaster, had been all about comfort. The chair moulded itself to his form, and was that in-chair heating he could feel?

The stone alien, Borg—or whatever—appeared by his side. "Where to, your Mischievousnessness?"

Where to indeed? With a ship like this, the entire cosmos was open to him. He could go anywhere. Do anything. _Be_ anything. Maybe he would find a planet to settle these people on; set himself up as a benevolent leader. Or maybe they'd locate a warship to hijack, and embrace a life of interstellar piracy. With his magical talents, he could find some primitive back-water—one with even better weather than Midgard—and the primitive locals would worship him as the God he rightfully was. Only, there would be no god of thunder to stand in his way. No Allfather to hold his leash.

It was time to see who Loki of Asgard truly was.

"Your Beneficent Malevolence? A course? A heading? A speed? Um, anything?" the stone-guy insisted.

 _As far away from Asgard as we can get,_ he said inside his head. But he couldn't bring his lips to form the words. Since discovering his true heritage, his sense of self had been thrown into turmoil. He wasn't truly an Asgardian, but he wasn't truly a Jötun. He wasn't a king, but he wasn't… not a king. He had a birthright to two thrones, and to none. To embrace one life was to shun the other, and he wasn't entirely ready to do either.

He'd tried to be a king. To be a God. The people of Midgard had been fools to oppose him. He could've brought them peace. Prosperity. He could've done away with war and poverty. All they had to do was bow down before him. And still, they refused. They preferred war and chaos to the equality he could've brought them. Ungrateful fools.

But Thor… like Frigga, like the woman Loki had called 'mother' all his life… like her, Thor saw something else within him. Some potential for greatness, perhaps. Some sense of his anguish and confusion. Some desire to be _better_ than the lies people told about him.

Nobody had ever believed in him. When Thor had been banished to Midgard, his so-called 'friends' had done everything within their power to undermine his orders and bring back the Idiot of Thunder. Instead of helping him, they'd opposed him. Even when Odin decreed Thor too petulant and dangerous to rule, the Idiots Three—plus that Valkyrie wannabe, Sif—had disobeyed the orders of _two_ kings to try and restore the war-crazy madman to the throne!

Thor had every reason to hate him. Time and time again, Loki had betrayed and double-crossed him. And time and time again, Thor had come through for him, like some stupid, oversized… brother. They weren't brothers, not really, but Thor didn't seem to care about that. Thor, like Fr… like Mother… possessed a strong loyalty to family.

"Much as I enjoy the sight of this Sakaaran hangar bay, oh ghostly leader-type," the stone-man continued, "I really feel we should be leaving the planet before the Grandmaster's forces muster themselves and storm this vessel."

What to do? He could leave and find a new life. A life far away from Thor and Asgard. He could prove those naysayers right. That he was no true Asgardian, and cared nothing for the welfare of his people.

Or he could go back, and find out exactly what Thor meant when he said ' _more'_. What it meant to be 'more' than the God of Mischief.

"Umm, sir?" Borg's craggy face appeared in his field of vision. "What are your orders?"

O ^ O ^ O

Loki knew he'd made the right choice when, as he led the gladiators out of the ship and onto the ever-shimmering surface of the Bifrost, Thor gave him a look. It was a look that said, " _What took you so long?"_

* * *

 _Author's note: I don't remember the_ exact _wording of the 'you could be more' conversation, but it stuck with me. Thanks for reading!_


End file.
